Spartans and Half-Bloods
by Lily224
Summary: Ted should have been born a Roman, but instead he's an awkward teen whose home has just been invaded by Spartans. Aysha is a daughter of Athena with a compass that leads her to whatever she desires. John just wants people to stop calling him Jason. And If Chrys and Andre want to get home, they have to keep these dysfunctional half-bloods from killing each other.
1. Two Spartans Fall from the Sky

TED POV

I rewound the tape again, this time sure Haley was watching. Haley groaned and rolled her eyes. We were on the couch in the living room. I'd turned off all the lights, leaving only the faint glow from the TV and whatever grey light slipped through the blinds from outside.

I watched carefully, concentrating so hard my hands shook as I clenched the remote. When I arrived at the part I pressed play.

"Watch," I told her, "It's here I swear."

Haley rolled her eyes, and glared out from under the fringe of brown hair framing her face. "You and your damn Romans."

I ignored her, and watched intently as a man in the documentary strutted across the screen in a toga. As the camera panned and the horrid reenactment continued, I paused again.

"Look! There it is!" I said, pointing to a mosaic on the floor in the reenactment.

Haley raised her eyebrows, "And?"

"That's what I saw in my dream," I said.

The mosaic was a pattern of deep blues and golds, depicting a series of hunts. Well, actually, I couldn't tell what the picture was of from the tiny viewing screen of the hand me down TV, but I had dreamed of it so many times, I knew.

"Look, Ted, so you dreamed about a stupid mosaic, and it also happens to be in some documentary—"

"Proof—"

"Yeah. Proof that you've watched it a million times since you were three."

I gaped. How could she dispute such undeniable evidence of my Roman descent?

Haley rolled her eyes again. She checked her watch and stood.

"Look, while I'd love to stick around and entertain your insane theories, Marissa is meeting me at the mall."

"Aren't you a little young to be going out alone?"

"I'm thirteen."

With a last snobby look, she grabbed her mini purse off the coffee table and left in a jingle of too many bracelets and earrings.

I sighed and collapsed back into our lumpy sofa. I had been stupid.

See, let me explain something. For a long time, I've had these dreams. Dreams so vivid, so wonderful, so full of color and life that when I was little, I could never tell if I was awake or asleep. In every dream, without fail, I was in Rome, more specifically, Pompeii, and I was a Roman. Sometimes the dreams were so detailed I felt as if I was living another life when I slept, other times I could only remember the places I walked. Last night had been particularly vivid for two reasons. One, I had been back in Pompeii, and two, it was completely empty. No matter how many times I dreamed about it Pompeii was always bustling, but not that time. It was empty, and colorless, save one blue and gold mosaic covered in blood. I'd been shocked out of my sleep by the dream, and I still didn't entirely understand it. But I knew I'd seen the mosaic before.

As soon as I'd woken up I'd dragged Haley to the TV and gone through every documentary I had until I found it. And now I stared blankly at the blurry image on my television, cause really, Haley was right, this was stupid. It proved nothing.

I didn't know why I thought finding the mosaic would help, but it hadn't.

I closed my eyes. Images of togas, and the coliseum, and the agora flashed through my mind like I was there. Haley was right. I needed a life.

Something like a gunshot sounded through my house, snapping me out of it. I slammed my hands over my ears, and the world swam before my eyes. I tried to sit up but only made myself dizzy.

I managed to pull myself up from the couch and look around. Everything was still shaking. In the far wall the two sliding glass doors that led out to the pool and patio had been knocked off their hinges. I approached, and shoved one aside, too confused to care, and somehow sure that that was the direction I needed to go in.

I stumbled out onto the patio.

The water in the pool had been thrown up and out, drowning the lawn, and creating a layer of water across the patio. The water was still sloshing around in the pool when the first of the two surfaced.

He was tan skinned, and tawny haired, and I had enough time to catch sight of a shining copper eye before he dove back under the water, resurfacing moments later with another guy in his grasp.

I probably stood there like an idiot for a good two minutes before I figured out what was going on. Two guys were drowning in my pool.

I rushed to their aid. I held out my hand to the tawny haired kid. He gasped and struggled, but managed to help me get his friend out of the water before scrambling out himself.

He stumbled over to his unconscious friend.

"Andreus? Andreus!" he said, voice hoarse.

The other boy didn't respond. He looked already dead. I knelt down beside the tawny haired kid.

"Dude, um he's…"

The boy grabbed the unconscious Andreus and began trying to sit him up.

"I don't think that's what you're supposed to do!" I said, trying not to panic, cause every health class I'd ever been in ever said not to shake the unconscious.

To my surprise and relief Andreus began to cough. He hacked up some water, then drew a gasping, shuddering breath.

The other boy stayed close, rubbing circles into Andreus' back and speaking in a low voice so I couldn't hear.

I gave them a few moments because they did just nearly drown, but eventually I had to ask.

"So uh, you people are, who, exactly?"

Andreus looked up through puffy eyes and offered a weak smile. "I am Andreus, and this is Chrysanthos. We are Spartans."

* * *

AYSHA POV

"This is stupid."

"You're stupid."

"Your face is stupid."

I glared at John, and he just stuck out his tongue. I didn't know how John and I ended up paired together like this. Mr. D had fed me some crap about how no one else could handle such a unique personality. Personally I just thought no one else wanted to deal with him, because, well, John certainly was unique.

And by unique I meant a total ass. His hair was blue this summer. Last summer it had been neon green, and the summer before a royal purple. In fact, I didn't even know what his actual hair color was. He also made sure to dress in equally obnoxious clothes. His parents were rich, and lived in some mansion in northern California. They gave him a ridiculous allowance and he flaunted it by buying every brand name in the book even if he hated it. He made it his life mission to be an utter nuisance with his damn smug attitude. If Camp Jupiter was trying to start a war, they made a good start when they made him lead diplomat.

"You better be right about this Aysha."

"I told you, my mother said—"

"My mother this, my mother that. News flash, nobody cares."

I turned and glared, but he just brushed me off with another smug smile.

I took a deep breath, and turned back to my compass.

The compass was small, brass, and had been a gift from my mother, Athena. It always pointed in the direction of what I needed. Or in this case, where Athena wanted me to go. Right now it was pointing towards the end of the street, where Athena had promised me there would be help.

Athena had visited me in my dreams last night, with news of people who could help us. Because we certainly needed it. These days more demigods were getting slaughtered before we even found them, than making it to camp, which was part of the reason John was with me. Normally I'd just take a plane to Camp Jupiter, but something was stirring the monsters, making travelling alone dangerous. I suspected something big, and Chiron wouldn't talk, which was never a good sign, and which maybe led me to perhaps send a message to my mother asking for some highly specific guidance, but somebody had to do something. And at least she answered.

"Gods, this place is freaking poor."

I bit my lip to keep from ripping John a new one. We were in a high end middle class neighborhood. The houses were all well-kept and there were kids out playing ball down the street despite the cloudy weather. I'd never lived in a neighborhood this nice all my life.

"Are we leaving soon?" John asked, "This is totally boring."

"No John. We aren't leaving. Now will you please—"

A sound like a gunshot echoed through the streets. The kids down the street froze. I swore, and looked at John. He was already reaching for his sword.

"Check the kids," he said.

I did and had to fight another round of cussing. _Dracanae._

* * *

CHRYS POV

I woke up when we were falling. I had just enough time to curse Athena before we hit the water. For a moment I wasn't in my body. I was floating above the surface, looking down, and I felt at peace.

I was snapped back to my body fast enough to give me spiritual whiplash. I made the mistake of opening my mouth, and chlorine water burned down my throat.

I struggled towards light and broke the surface gasping. I struggled to keep my head above water before I remembered. I looked down, and under the clear blue water, I could make out the blurry form of Andreus. I dove back under.

I reached, and managed to grasp his hoodie. He weighed far more than I remember, and I kicked furiously to bring him to the surface, lungs burning.

We broke the surface, and looming over us was a shadowy figure. It reached out its hands, and with little option, I accepted.

I was hauled out of the water with Andreus dragging behind me. I collapsed onto the cool stone of the ground.

I struggled back up, and caught sight of Andreus laying only a few feet away. I scrambled towards him, praying that he hadn't died. Knowing Athena she hadn't cared to make our entry into this place safe for mortals.

I rolled him over, and tried to sit him up.

"Andreus? Andreus!"

Someone was saying something to me but it didn't register. I couldn't hear anything but the sound of Andreus' breathing, which was far too faint for comfort. He couldn't die on me now. Not after everything. I cursed Athena. If she let him die, I would never let her forget it.

He began coughing, and I felt every muscle in my body relax. It was okay. Andreus was okay.

I turned then, to see our savior. He was not what I expected. When I had been pulled from the water, I had seen a regal face, and a grand shadow of a soldier. Standing before me was a teenager whose limbs were too long for his body. He had a head of curly black hair and striking blue eyes, and was wearing a garish orange button up shirt dotted in camels. I barely had time to register his highly modern clothes before he was talking.

"You people are who, exactly?" he asked.

"I am Andreus, and this is Chrysanthos. We are Spartans."

I whipped around. Andreus was smiling a dopey smile, and if I wasn't so happy he was alive I would have hit him. I turned back.

"Please, can we bring him in?" I asked, nodding to Andreus.

The boy looked uneasy, and I didn't blame him. But I was freezing. We were standing by the ground pool that I assumed we had just nearly drowned in. The air was chilly, and the sky dark with clouds. I was in no mood to try and reassure some stranger I was safe. I wanted warmth.

At last the boy nodded.

It took the two of us to pick Andreus up and drag him through the glass doors and onto the couch. We laid Andreus out on the lumpy thing, and the boy disappeared only to reappear with blankets. On the TV an old documentary of ancient Rome was played on mute.

Each passing second color returned to Andreus' face, but he was eerily quiet. Our host disappeared again and I was able to get a closer look.

I pressed a hand to Andreus' forehead. "You look like crap."

"Not too shabby yourself," He grinned.

I suppressed a smile. I was still relieved to have not lost him, but suspected that it was in no small part Athena's doing. I was going to owe her again.

I took a seat on the lumpy sofa and looked around. We were in a modern house. Definitely not Sparta. On one wall a bookshelf was lined with the works of every great Roman writer to ever put pen to paper, as well as an assortment of maps, and one lone gladius that was obviously the pride and joy of its owner, if its place as the centerpiece was any indication. It was strange to see such Roman things after so long with Greeks.

"Where are we?" Andreus asked. His voice was slightly slurred, and he looked around blearily.

"San Francisco."

Andreus and I whipped around. Our host was back, with a plate of cookies in tow. He was still watching us carefully, but he approached, offered the cookies with apparent genuine concern for hospitality.

He sat down on the coffee table in front of the TV, facing Andreus and I as we happily stuffed ourselves with chocolate chips cookies. For a few minutes things passed this way, us eating cookies like we hadn't eaten in years, him watching us like we were aliens.

Finally, I choked down my fifth cookie and decided to call it done. I met his eyes and tried to smile reassuringly. I don't think it worked.

"So…" he said, "Chrys…chrysantos? Fos?"

"Just call me Chrys," I said, wincing as he butchered the Greek pronunciation.

He gave a goofy, lopsided grin. "Right. Chrys and, well I guess that makes you Andre,"

Andreus looked indignant, and was about to say something before I elbowed him. Hard.

"Ow!" He glared at me, which was funnier than it should have been with his oversized blanket and sopping wet hair.

"Right, so. Chrys and Andre the Spartans," our host repeated.

Oh right. Andreus had said that. Crap.

"Well, you see," I said. And I wasn't sure what I was going to say exactly, because Andreus had already blown any chance of being able to rationally explain what had happened, and the mist was apparently not operating at the moment, but I was saved from having to when a girl in a bright orange t-shirt and a boy with blue hair burst into the room, followed by a long line of monsters.

* * *

**So I know I'm _supposed_ to be working on SAKI but uh, got distracted :)**

**So this is set an indeterminate number of years after PJATO and HOO. Seeing as I'm only just finishing Mark of Athena this is going to probably vary a lot from canon. So, let's pretend after Percy and Anabeth's time, Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter are still talking to each other, but are two separate camps still, and often exchange campers and send diplomats. Good? Good.**

**Sorry for the epic info dumping in here. I may go back and fix that later...much later. Potentially never.**

**Updates will not be frequent due to the fact this is a secondary project, and for anyone wondering, I have the next SAKI chapter written, I just need to edit, so that should be up in a couple weeks.**

**~Lily**


	2. Spartans Wear Nikes

TED POV

In the space of three minutes quite a few things happened. First, a boy and a girl kicked in my front door, followed by a swarm of lizard chicks. Two, the Spartans recovered incredibly quickly from near their death experience, and then proceeded to single handedly turn three lizard ladies into dust before I could blink. Three, I discovered I knew how to use a gladius.

Okay, so it was less I knew how to use one, more that when a lizard lady is barreling towards you and there's no other weapon in the vicinity, you learn quickly. I snatched it from my father's bookshelf just in time to plunge it through her chest.

She exploded in a shower of golden dust. From there the next swing was pure instinct

I spun, and sliced through another of the lizards, and another, before the girl grabbed me by the arm.

I whirled around. She surprised me so much I nearly ran her through. She was small, with dark skin, and dark brown hair tied back behind her head. She wore a bright orange t-shirt and tennis shoes, and had startling gray eyes that bore into mine with an intensity that made me uncomfortable even in the midst of the chaos.

"We have to go," she said.

She turned, and ran into the fray, bobbing and weaving her way towards the still open back doors. I paused, but a claw sweeping a little too close encouraged me to dive in after her. I barely avoided gnashing jaws and scales as I tried to follow her path into my backyard. I caught sight of her a couple times with a small brass device in her hands, but lost her again in the sea of scales and exploding dust.

I skidded into my back yard, cutting down another of the lizard ladies, and running after the girl. I didn't know where she thought she was going, but I caught sight of the others doing the same, and it didn't seem like they had any other ideas.

She stopped suddenly, and I stumbled trying not to run into her.

"What are you doing?" I asked, looking behind us. A slightly lesser but still terrifying number of lizard ladies were pouring out of my house.

She didn't answer. She tucked the brass device in her pocket and raised her hand to the sky. To my amazement a rope ladder dropped down from the heavens to meet her.

The blue haired guy from earlier caught up with us.

"Might want to hurry it up there baby doll, before we have a problem," he said. He was carrying a sword much like my own, but definitely newer looking, and wearing a deep purple t-shirt.

"Stuff it, John." She said, glaring at him, before propelling herself up the ladder at speeds that seemed inhuman. I had just enough time to puzzle it over before John, the blue haired guy, was shoving me forward.

"You too, Roman." He said.

Without thinking, though if I had I doubt I would have found an alternative, and without looking back at the disaster that was surely my house, I gripped the rope in both hands and began the climb.

What happened after that is all a bit of a blur, but can you blame me? I was probably in shock. My house had just been over run. By lizard people. And that's not even getting started on the boat.

Oh, right, the boat. Well, as it turned out the ladder didn't just lead to nowhere. Good thing too, because by the time I emerged from the clouds and could make out the hull, my legs were about to give out from under me. The only thing keeping me going was a quickly fading adrenaline rush and the constant swearing and threats from John below, who "couldn't believe Lupa would let a soldier so weak live".

I reached the top of the ladder, which crawled up the side of the boat, and hauled myself over.

I collapsed on the deck without another word, and closed my eyes.

Distantly I heard the thumps of the others' feet as they landed on the deck. A shadow passed over my face, and I opened my eyes.

I came face to face with a red haired, green eyed boy, who stared at me quizzically like he couldn't understand why I was there. It seemed the Spartans and the girl with the grey eyes had vanished, but I could see some people out of the corner of my eye on the other side of the boat messing with a tangle of rope and what looked like a flat screen TV.

For a few moments there was a staring contest, which he won easily. When h didn't say anything, I grew uncomfortable.

"Hello?" I asked, unsure what else to say.

The boy jumped back. I apologized, afraid I'd offended him, when the blue haired boy, John I remembered, appeared behind him.

"Don't worry about it. Shepard's just like that, right Shepard?" John said, slinging an arm over the other boy's shoulders good naturedly, before throwing the boy into a halfhearted head lock.

Shepard grinned and wrestled out of it with speed that hinted to prior training.

"Y'sir," Shepard said, still grinning.

"Something's up with the sails, can you go make sure Reed doesn't do something stupid and crash us into a mountain again?"

Shepard's eyes went wide as saucers. "Who let Reed near the sails? Or on the boat?"

"Talk to Aysha."

With that Shepard took off running, leaving me to stare on confusedly.

We were on a boat. Specifically a Greek ship, the kind that hadn't been seen for centuries. But that was only the half of it. Littered in between the ancient structures I recognized from my dad's lectures, were the ones that didn't belong at all. Computer hardware hooked up to the mast, a navigation system that was blurting out our direction and velocity in Latin, coolers of soda, and a warrior like figure head which had been spray painted bright pink by some vandal.

It was all a little too much. My head reeled.

"Hey, uh, you okay?" John asked.

I looked at John, with his bright blue hair and Van sneakers, and began to suspect I'd gone insane. "Totally. I'm great."

John nodded slowly. "Right, sure, well. You must have been gone from camp a while. It'll be nice to get back."

"Camp?"

John nodded, like it should be obvious. I stared blankly.

I literally got to watch as his face morphed with horrified realization. "Wait a second, you don't know?"

"About…?"

"Camp Jupiter!"

I shook my head.

John groaned, and ran a hand over his face. "Just, stay here, don't touch anything, I need to get Aysha."

* * *

AYSHA POV

I led the two guys in the red sweatshirts to the diplomats' cabin. Their friend was obviously Roman, and I'd let John deal with him.

The diplomats' cabin was the largest room on board, with two separate bedrooms and baths, along with a small sitting room, which consisted of a rickety table, across which an Axis and Allies game had been hastily thrown together and used as a battle map. Axis represented monsters, Allies half-bloods.

I offered them seats, and took one myself.

"So," I said, taking out the compass under the table. The little silver needle quivered a moment, and pointed directly at the one on the right. He was my age, maybe a little older. His eyes were his most striking feature, bright copper, like coins, and he had skin and hair to match. He was handsome, but in that majestic way that I normally associated with sons and daughters of Aphrodite. "You are?"

"Chrysanthos. Chrys," the boy said.

His friend looked at him uncertainly. He had paler skin, and beetle black eyes that glinted and seemed to absorb all light. His hair was a matted tangle of dark curls, and his chiseled face was reminiscent of John's.

"I'm Andreus…" he said, obviously unsure, and waiting for a signal.

"Andre works too," Chrys added. He paused, and in his eyes I saw the debate rage, but finally he come to a decision, "We are from Sparta."

It was my turn to be confused. "Sparta as in…?"

"The ancient warrior city that fought in the Trojan War, yes," he said, and he didn't seem happy about it.

I chewed that over. So my mother had sent me Spartans.

Looking at them, they didn't look very Spartan. They were dressed in matching blood red hoodies and jeans, paired with bright white Nike sneakers. I'd caught sight of the word Sparta scrawled across the backs of the hoodies in black, but had assumed it was a school team or something.

If these were Spartans, Sparta had certainly changed with the times.

"So, ancient Spartans." I said, mostly because I didn't have anything else to say. What did one say to Spartans? This wasn't, perhaps, what I was expecting, but it was certainly far more interesting.

"Not exactly."

That got my attention. Chrys and Andre were looking at each other. It was obvious they were debating silently, but it didn't last long. Whatever argument they were having, Chrys shook his head firmly and it was done.

"Explain then," I said, when it looked like they were going to fall back into their silent conversation.

Chrys turned to me. "You first."

"My name is Aysha Thompson, daughter of Athena," I noticed the way Chrys winced at the name, but didn't stop, "I was sent by my mother. To find you."

"To find us?"

I pulled out my compass, and held it out for him to see. "Last night my mother visited me in my dreams. She told me she was sending help, and to follow the compass. So I stopped the boat, and I tracked you down."

Chrys leaned over the table, examining the compass closely. "This is a gift from Olympus."

I nodded, and drew it back. Chrys's eyes followed it, fascination clear.

"And what does it do, exactly?" he asked.

"It shows me the way."

"To what?"

"Anything I want."

He mulled this over, but it was Andre who spoke up first, and quite indignantly. "You wanted for us to be flung from the heavens? That hurt you know…"

Chrys hid his smile from Andre, and turned back to me. "He does have a point."

My smile became forced as I remembered. "We've been having a problem. With monsters. I come from a place where children of the gods seek safety, but lately the monsters have been acting up. More half-bloods die than make it to camp. I asked my mother for help…and she sent you."

Through the entire speech Chrys had tensed more and more, and by the end I feared he would snap at me. Andre noticed too. He placed a calming hand on Chrys' shaking shoulder, muttering something too quiet to hear.

Chrys released his fists and took three deep breaths. When he opened his eyes again, I could see the barely contained anger. However, his voice didn't shake.

"I'm afraid you are mistaken. Athena is no friend of ours, and I will die before I serve her purpose."

I gaped. How could anyone say that? Of all the gods Athena was by far the most fair and responsible.

There was a knock on the door.

John stepped inside. "We have a problem."

* * *

CHRYS POV

It was probably a good thing the blue haired freak stepped in when he did. Aysha looked like Alexa when she was in a foul mood. She was about to kill us.

There was a muffled sound of someone behind the door and John stepped aside, revealing the awkward curly haired teen who'd pulled us out of the pool.

"Um, hi," he said.

And you know I had to give him credit. I'd met full grown men who'd lost it when monsters and gods and swords got involved. So far two people had fallen out of the sky into his backyard, his house was overrun by monsters, he'd met two demigods, and been taking up on a flying Greek warship, and he was acting like this sort of thing happened every Tuesday afternoon.

"I told you to wait on deck." Blue hair deadpanned.

The curly haired boy shrugged. "Seemed unexciting."

"What are you doing here?" Aysha snapped.

Blue hair pointed at curly hair. "This one's mortal."

Aysha turned on the curly haired kid, "And you are?"

"Um, Ted. Winters. You guys kind of kicked down my door. And then there were the monsters and the flying boat and yeah." He trailed off.

Aysha's eyes flickered to the gladius in the boy Ted's hand.

Ted saw where she was looking.

"Oh this?" he said, raising the sword, "No, no, this is my Dad's. I don't even know how to use it."

"That's not what I saw," blue hair said.

Ted let out a nervous laugh.

"So he's mortal then?" Aysha said.

"We'll have to drop him off at the next skyscraper."

"What?" Ted said, "No. You can't!"

Aysha's eyes narrowed, "And why not?'

"Um, well, you see, John here was just telling me about Camp Jupiter—"

"You told him?" Aysha said, turning on the blue haired guy.

"I thought he was a Roman!" John said.

"God you're so stupid!"

"But I am."

Everyone in the room froze, and Ted turned a lovely shade of red as he realized what he'd blurted out.

"Roman, I mean," Ted said, voice soft, "or I should be."

"Great," John said, throwing his hands in the air, "Just lovely. We've got a mortal who _should_ be a Roman, and two…"

"Spartans," Andreus said.

"Spartans! Of course. On top of the monster problem and the boat nearly breaking down every five minutes. Just lovely."

"Oh calm down. We'll sort this out later," Aysha said, then turned to Ted. "We can't stop now, we're already late, so you and the Spartan's are coming with us to Camp Jupiter. It's safer for you there anyways. We can debate your Roman status later."

Ted seemed utterly pleased with the prospect, and beamed as John ushered him to a chair. John took a seat himself, then all eyes turned towards Aysha.

"I was just explaining the situation to, ah, the Spartans here." Aysha said, nodding towards us. "We're half-bloods. I'm a daughter of Athena, this is Jonathan Rivers, son of Zeus. He hails from Camp Jupiter, a safe haven for Roman demigods and legacies everywhere. I'm from Camp Half-Blood, home of the Greeks."

"You have Spartans?" Andreus asked.

Honestly some days I just wanted to sew his mouth shut, but it was hard to stay angry at the earnest look on his face.

"Um, no, just demigods," Aysha said, and I could see her already writing him off as an idiot.

"Oh," Andreus said, face falling.

"But you were telling us where you were from?" Aysha continued.

Immediately Andreus shot me a look. He knew something was up, he might not've know what, but he knew we weren't supposed to be saying anything about Greece.

Of course, his idiocy and Athena had made that an impossibility.

I took a deep breath.

"I am Chrysanthus, and this Andreus, we are from Sparta, but it is not the Sparta you know. Like all things, the great places of legend moved with Western Civilization. Mount Olympus is now the Empire State Building, for instance."

Understanding lit Aysha's eyes, "So that means Sparta is—"

"A traditional military boarding school. I think they call it Lacedaemon Academy in your world."

"Hold up," said John, raising his hand, "A Spartan boarding school? We've never heard of it."

And I really did wonder, for a moment, if it was safe to tell them. It was probably less safe to keep quiet. I sent Andreus an apologetic look.

"Because we didn't want you to." I said, "You have to understand, demigods are dangerous. Where you go, destruction follows. The last war nearly put an end to the last of us, and poor Marathon never really recovered. So we separated ourselves. Disappeared into the mist, from both the sight of demigods and mortals. To insure our safety. We are isolated from the affairs of the world. We are safe."

When I finished, a solemn silence fell over the table. Aysha seemed to process it all first.

"So you, the Greeks, they don't want to know the demigods?"

"You're dangerous," I shrugged, what else could I say? I'd never known demigods personally before, but I'd heard enough stories to know. Demigods were followed by a trail of death and destruction, and Greece would rather unite as one country, than let the half-bloods back into their borders.

This news seemed to really trouble Aysha, and she bit her lip in thought. "But you were sent here. By my mother. To help us."

"I'm afraid we have no interest in such a thing. I'm sure you're a nice girl Miss Thompson, but Andreus needs to be back in Sparta. Once we land, and recover ourselves, we will be returning."

Aysha looked heartbroken at the prospect. She reminded me so much of Alexa, always waiting for adventure, always being shot down. I buried those fond feelings for now. Aysha was not only a demigod but the daughter of Athena. It would be unwise to stay.

There was a knock on the cabin door, and a redhead poked his head in. "If anyone cares to know, we've arrived at Camp Jupiter."

* * *

**So I've been playing around with pov and first person and decided I definitely like third better for a lot of reasons. Probably just not used to the style. I'm also thinking I'm going to start splitting the POV by chapter so it all flows better and is easier to read. But anyways...**

**SAKI chapter is almost done...**

**and that's about it.**

**Reviews appreciated.**

**~Lily **


	3. Gods are Made of Marble

TED POV

To this day the most amazing, magical, breath taking-ly majestic thing I ever saw was Camp Jupiter and the city of New Rome as we descended on it in the flying Greek warship. Stretches of green hills rolled on below us, and a river in a shape resembling a capital G snaked its way around the camp and the gleaming marble of New Rome.

I don't really know why I knew but I did. When John started talking to me, like I was a Roman, when I was walking along the deck of that ship. I felt something. I was almost home.

And descending on the city of New Rome I knew, I was here. This was where I belonged. Maybe Aysha and John confused me with all their talk of monster or gods, but if these guys were really half-bloods like they claimed, and this place was really the last remnants of the ancient Roman Empire, then there was nowhere else for me.

Andre stepped up beside me, a look of awe on his face as we leaned out the side of the boat to stare.

"This is magnificent," Andre said.

I nodded.

As we came closer the crew began hollering orders back and forth. The Latin I recognized from what my dad had taught, and the rest sounded like ancient Greek. My dad had tried to teach me that too, but I was still pretty rusty. Ropes went flying, sails were adjusted, and a rope the same width of me was thrown overboard. Slowly, and surely, under the steady hands of Shepard at the nav system, we began to sink to the earth.

* * *

"All right, here's the deal." John said. We were on the ground, and a large group of what very much resembled Roman legionaries had gathered around the boat. "You are going to stay put here. Me, Aysha, and these guys, are gonna go talk to the praetors, and when we get back, we'll take you home to your nice mortal world and you'll forget this ever happened. Yes?"

I opened my mouth to say something and –

"No no no. You just nod."

I nodded.

"Good," John said, but he didn't look reassured. I watched as he scratched at a tattoo on his arm. It was like a bar code, with the initials SPQR above it. I wanted to ask, but he looked stressed, and then from the other side of the boat the Aysha girl was calling.

The rest of the crew had already disembarked, and, unhappily, John jogged across the deck to the side of the boat and clambered off.

I waited until I thought he wasn't watching anymore and crept up to the side.

The view below was amazing. A group of, well, Romans, some in t-shirts others in togas, were all welcoming Aysha, John, and the Spartans into camp. Two people in particular, a boy and a girl in purple togas, looked especially important, and Aysha shook their hands, before stepping aside to introduce the two Spartans.

I couldn't hear anything, but the crowd looked tense.

My dad had always told me that Romans admired the Greeks for their intelligence, and creativity, but had always held a grudge because of a perceived rivalry. Something about the Trojan War. I'd paid more attention to the mythology than I did the history lessons.

I watched as, slowly, the crowd began to disperse, leaving only a handful of soldiers to guide Aysha, the Spartans, John, and the two toga wearing kids away.

Now I was completely alone. I sighed. Great.

I looked at the gladius. I hadn't let go of it since I'd gotten on board, and now I wondered how I could have been crazy enough to grab it in the first place. It was Dad's and if he found out I touched it I was dead.

My dad. And Haley. I hadn't even thought of them. What if she got back to the house and found it in ruins and me gone? What would they think?

I looked out towards New Rome and the tightened my grip on the gladius.

I heard something shuffle behind me.

I whipped around, ready to slice down whatever monster thought they could sneak up on me, and instead found Shepard clambering down the mast. He moved quickly, using ropes and handholds with such flexibility I swore he could have been half monkey or something. Still fifteen feet up, he let go, and landed on the deck with roll.

He rolled up onto his feet and grinned sheepishly at me and my raised gladius.

"Hi," He said.

"Hi…" I looked around. Everyone else was off the ship. "Your friends left, you know."

"I know," Shepard said.

"So, don't you need to go with them, or something?"

Shepard fell silent, and seemed to contemplate this.

"I don't like crowds," he said.

"Oh. Well, me neither, I guess." I really didn't know how to act around this kid. He was kind of weird.

"I'm Shepard, son of Demeter, by the way," he said, holding out his hand.

"I know, John said," I gestured back to where they'd disappeared.

"I know, but I like to be polite."

"Then I'm Ted, son of Gregory. Nice to meet you." I shook his hand.

Shepard grinned at me, and withdrew his hand quickly.

"So is that yours?"

"This?" I raised the gladius, "No, my dad's."

"May I see it?"

I felt strange, handing over my sword to Shepard. He seemed nice and all, but I couldn't help suddenly feeling helpless without it.

Shepard regarded the sword with a reverence that surprised me, but made me feel slightly more at ease.

"This is real imperial gold. And it's old too. I thought the Romans had collected all of these. I wonder how a mortal got it? No offense to your dad of course."

"None taken,"

"But really, this is amazing. The Romans never let me touch their weapons." He handed the sword back to me.

I took it, and felt instantly better.

"Thank you for letting me hold it."

"No problem," I said. Shepard smiled, and I decided, definitely weird, but also a strangely nice kid.

"I'm going to go to go to the gardens." Shepard said.

He turned and began to walk away, then paused, and turned back.

"You're alone here?"

I nodded.

He seemed to have debate with himself, before finally looking back at me.

"Want to go to the gardens?"

I looked back at where John had disappeared. "Yeah. Sounds cool."

* * *

The gardens Shepard was talking about were the Gardens of Bacchus. They were on a hill overlooking the valley that contained New Rome. Overhead, grape vines created a cool shaded canopy and bees buzzed everywhere. There was an air of calm about the place that just seemed to clear my head, and the events of the morning suddenly seemed distant, and unimportant.

"This is cool," I told Shepard, for sake of conversation, and also because it was. I'd never had a garden back home, despite mom's attempts at one.

He didn't seem to hear me. Before we left the ship, he'd dawned on of those safari caps, and he pulled it off now, and bent down to examine the base of a withering vine.

He placed a hand against it, and I watched as, slowly, the plant's leaves unrolled, and the green returned to the vine.

"A literal green thumb. Cool," I said after a moment.

Shepard whipped back around to look at me like he forgot I was there, and smiled nervously. "Son of Demeter."

I nodded. "Like Ceres, but Greek, right?"

Shepard grimaced, "Demeter came first."

"Sorry. Roman historian for a father."

Shepard stood, and brushed off his cargo pants, and I began to wander, just enjoying the place. It was a nice change from the chaos of the day, and the plant life was refreshing. Eventually I came across a statue in the dead center of the garden. I recognized him as Bacchus, or I supposed Shepard would say Dionysius.

Shepard finally caught up. He'd paused several times along the path to work his green thumb magic and looked a little tired.

"So, do all demigods have powers like you?" I asked.

Shepard thought about that. "Not always. Some are stronger than others. But most."

"I see. And, is it only demigods who can, you know, join?"

"You mean camp? Yes."

I frowned, wondering if maybe I was a demigod. I doubted it, seeing as I knew both of my very much alive parents.

"But Camp Jupiter accepts legacies," Shepard continued.

"Legacies?"

"Distant descendants," Shepard said.

"So how does Camp Jupiter work then? Where does it even come from?"

"I don't really know the details, they don't tell us Greeks much, but New Rome consists of all that's left of the Roman Empire. Back in the day, Jupiter himself tasked the twelfth legion with keeping Rome alive, and that's what they've done."

"So this really is the last of Rome." I let that sink in, and looked out over the valley. I could see what looked like temples on the distant hill, and that was probably the barracks, and in New Rome there was even a model of the coliseum.

"So, let's say, a mortal, like myself, maybe wanted to be a Roman soldier?"

Shepard looked horrified. "Why would you want this?"

"I just—"

"It's horrible. Constantly running from monsters, never seeing your family, never knowing if you're coming back, or if you can trust people, or if your parent even cares."

I winced. "I didn't mean it like that."

"Then what did you mean?"

"I just…" I looked down at the gladius in my hand, and my mind flashed back to the morning, when I'd been able to swing without thought, when fighting came to me like breathing. I doubted I could repeat the feat. "Do you ever feel like you were meant to be born in a different time, but someone messed up, and you were born here instead?"

Shepard went silent, staring at the grapevines.

"All the time." He said quietly.

For a long time we were silent.

"So," I said at last, "back on the boat when you were messing with that mast…"

"Oh that? Easy. I can even show you," Shepard said.

"Well then, teach me, sensei."

* * *

"How's this?" I asked.

I was hanging upside down in the highest branches of a tree we'd found just outside of the garden.

"You forgot rule number three," Shepard said. He stood below me, frowning.

I sighed. "Three points of contact."

I reached up, and managed to swing myself upright and grab a branch. I'd been getting lightheaded anyways.

"I'm gonna come down now," I said, and began to plan out my descent.

Shepard had told me upon my request that he wouldn't teach me any of his awesome parkour like moves till he was assured I had mastered the basics. Which apparently entailed climbing trees. And there were, of course tree climbing rules. Rule one, plan your path. Rule two, watch your center of gravity. Rule three, three points of contact, and so one and so forth.

As I tried to move down, my carefully planned path failed me and the branch beneath my foot splintered. I toppled out of the tree.

I think I screamed, but was cut short when I landed on my back, knocking the wind out of me. For a few terrifying seconds I couldn't breathe, and I rolled over, trying to force myself not to panic.

Shepard laughed.

"Thanks man," I choked.

"Sorry, sorry." He reached out a hand and helped pull me to my feet.

"Damn tree hates me," I said, glaring up at it, and finally catching my breath. My back killed me as I tried to stand straight.

"Hey now, it is _not_ the tree's fault," Shepard said. He looked personally offended by my meager insult and I began to play out scenarios in my head about how sons of Neptune must get horribly offended whenever someone dislikes fish.

"Hey, you two!"

Shepard and I turned to see the newcomer. It was John, with a girl I didn't recognize in tow.

His hair was disheveled, blue spikes falling everywhere, and he'd thrown a button up shirt over his purple t-shirt. The girl was thin and light on her feet, with sun kissed skin, and curly black hair tied up on the top of her head. Her eyes lit up when they landed on Shepard.

"Shepard!" she cried.

Shepard froze, standing up straight.

She ran up to us, John lagging behind with a scowl plastered onto his face.

"Hey Shepard, climbing trees?" she asked, like this was something he did a lot.

He nodded stiffly. Even I could see he was panicking, sweat beginning to accumulate on his forehead.

"Ah, leave Shep alone Julia, he doesn't wanna talk to you," John said.

Julia frowned, and her bright green eyes stared down Shepard with curiosity as he smiled and greeted John and purposefully avoided looking at her.

John turned to me. "And what are you doing out of the boat?"

"Sorry sir, I didn't realize—" Shepard started.

"Don't," I told him, "It's my fault. I didn't tell him I wasn't allowed off the boat. He didn't know."

John groaned. "You are going to get me in so much trouble."

Something in the air shifted. It was slight, but the others seemed to notice it too. The buzzing of the bees went silent. Julia slipped a dagger from the waist of her jeans, and John unsheathed his own sword. Shepard didn't have a weapon but I had a feeling he didn't need one. I snatched my gladius from where I'd leant it against the tree.

"You all feel that?" Julia said.

For a long moment everything went incredibly still.

The leaves on the trees shook, and a giant blur of red fur swept out of the garden. We ducked just in time, but even then I could feel the monster's claws sweeping far too close to my head for comfort.

The monster skidded to a stop, claws gouging the dirt, and spinning to face us. It was a fox, but not like any fox I had seen before. It was the size of pickup truck, with blood red fur, and demon yellow eyes. Its fur was slick and stiff, and up on end. Its mouth stretched beck in an awful growl. Its tail twitched in the air.

"What the hell is that?" John asked, his calm momentarily gone as he looked at the fox.

Julia shook her head. "I've never seen it."

"Cadmean Vixen."

They turned to look at me.

I shrugged, "My dad was a—"

"Roman historian." Shepard finished for me.

The fox grew impatient with our chat and it lunged. I dove out of the way again, rolling with my sword tucked close.

"Into the garden," John called.

I pivoted and headed into the vine filled tangle. I heard the others crashing through nearby and wondered if the Romans from the legion would come to help us.

A large shadow shifted through the vines a few feet away and I shoved thoughts of reinforcements from my mind and ran. I could see Bacchus's statue in the distance. I sprinted ahead, and reached the statue at the same time as John.

"What do you know about it?" Jason asked as we reached the statue. His eyes darted around the clearing searching for any sign of the fox. He walked around to the other side and I followed. It wasn't much, but anything between us and that thing was good enough for me.

"Not much," I said, scratching my brain, "my dad told me it as a bedtime story once or twice. It's an uncatchable fox, sent to torment Thebes. They had to use an inescapable dog to catch it."

"We don't have an inescapable dog." John said flatly.

There was a crash, and me and John looked at each other.

"Ready?" he asked, raising his sword.

We charged back into the gardens in the direction of the sound.

* * *

We emerged back onto the hill to see Shepard crouched before the fox. They were circling each other, and if I didn't know better I'd of said Shepard was part fox himself.

John and I stopped short of the two's range of attack.

"Damn it Shepard," John muttered. He looked like he wanted to charge, but he didn't. Instead he turned to me.

"You said it can't be caught, right?"

I nodded, "That's right."

"So, technically speaking, as long as we aren't chasing it, could we find a way to keep it out?"

"What?"

"Like, if I were to put up a magic wall around myself, that wouldn't be catching it, but I'd still be safe. That would work?"

"I guess so, but I don't see how—"

He threw his gladius at me and I barely managed to keep from dropping my own.

"Keep Shepard alive, and don't do anything stupid,"

John turned and ran off.

I turned back to Shepard and the fox.

Crap, this was bad.

The fox, twitched, and for a moment I swore it looked right at me. Then it lunged for Shepard.

Shepard moved faster than I could track, and he managed to avoid it the first time. But the fox lunged again. The monster's jaws clamped down on his arm. The boy didn't even scream as the fox lifted him off the ground.

I charged, and it whirled towards me. Before I could do anything a sliver of metal sliced through the air nearly buried itself in the fox's side.

It dropped Shepard, and the boy scrambled away. Julia dropped out of the trees and ran toward us. I tossed her John's gladius, and together we advanced on the fox.

Despite his arm Shepard didn't back out. With a nod to us, he charged the fox. He dove in and out and around it, weaving between his legs and barely managing to roll out of the way, providing the perfect distraction.

With Julia on my right, we charged in perfect sync, and stabbed and lunged at the monster.

I made my way to the jaws, and as Shepard barely rolled away from the snapping teeth, I thrust my blade towards the head.

I should have hit it. I was in range, I was in proper form, and Julia was on the other side insuring it had nowhere to go, but somehow the blade didn't even come close to striking. I stared, amazed at how my instinct had betrayed me.

I was so distracted I didn't see the fox lunge for me. I was knocked to the ground, and my back decided then to remind me of my earlier stupidity. I cried out.

The fox continued to advance. I could see the gleaming white fangs. I closed my eyes, ready to meet my end.

It never came. I opened my eyes.

Somehow Shepard had manage to clamber onto the fox's back and he now clung to its thick neck for dear life as it shook itself, trying to throw him off. I gaped, and even Julia couldn't bring herself to move for a moment as she just stared at Shepard and the fox.

Then, in a particularly vicious shake, it managed to throw him off.

"Shepard!" Julia cried. She ran towards the fallen boy.

The fox didn't care. It turned to me, eyes glowing with rage, and growled. Slowly, it came towards me, and I raised my sword, trying to think of something, anything. Nothing came up. All of my dreams and visions of my Roman life and nothing in it even remotely prepared me for giant killer foxes.

"Terminus now!"

I turned to see John, in all his blue haired glory, charging towards the fox completely unarmed.

The Fox turned equally confused, when a statue appeared in front of me.

"How dare you enter!" it cried.

A small explosion by the fox's feet made it jump, and it sailed straight over our heads and into the garden.

"Hmph. Serves it right," the statue said.

I scrambled to my feet, gladius in hand, staring into the forest, waiting for it to come back.

"Oh, put that down."

I turned to the statue. It was less a statue, more a pillar, with the form of a man from the waist up set on top. The arms seemed to be missing.

"Well?" he said impatiently.

I hurriedly lowered my sword.

"Very good."

"Thanks Terminus. You sure that will work?" John said. He looked out of breath, like he'd run a marathon, but he was grinning ear to ear.

"Of course, nobody gets past me."

I sent John a questioning look.

"Oh right, Ted, this is Terminus, the god of boundaries, and the protector of New Rome."

"That's right. You must be a new camper," Terminus said, "Lupa's letting anyone through these days I see."

"Um, no, this is a mortal—" John began.

"A mortal? Nonsense. I would have detected him. He's a Roman. I can feel it."

John shrugged at me with a "What can you do?" look, but inside I grinning. I was a Roman.

"Now, where's Julia?" Terminus asked.

The look on my face must have said enough. John looked equally uneasy. We'd forgotten.

"Here!"

I felt myself deflate in relief. I could see her crouched over a ways away. I jogged over, John behind me.

She was kneeling over Shepard's prone form, and I felt horrible. It was my fault he was there. If he'd died for me…

"He's fine, I think," Julia said.

I came over and peered at the boy. His eyes were open, and he looked dazed.

"Shepard?" I asked.

Shepard looked at me, seeming confused. "Fox?"

"Gone, thanks to John."

"Yes, indeed," Terminus materialized beside us. "Quite an ingenious idea he thought up. Just like his brother. Though, we may not be able to use the gardens for a while considering I had to set the boundaries a little close."

"Thanks," Shepard said to John.

"Don't worry about it. It wasn't even my idea. That thing with Terminus? That was all Ted over here. You should be thanking him," He slapped me on the back, forced smile on his face.

"But—" I said.

"Don't be modest," John said. I wanted to argue, but decided to talk about it later. I bent down, and took Shepard by the arm. Together, Julia and I helped him to his feet.

"You okay there?" John asked.

"Fine sir."

"Honestly, will you call me John already? Julia, can you take him to the Medic Center?"

"No, I'm fine," Shepard yanked out of our grasp, and despite the fact he was most definitely not fine, with an arm full of teeth marks and blood, shot down every one of our attempts to convince him to see treatment.

"I'm fine." He said. He turned to Julia, and his face paled as he spoke. "I…I…th-thank…th…th—"

"Thank you?" she asked.

He nodded.

She smiled. "Of course."

Shepard stared for a few more moments, like a deer in headlights, then turned to John.

"With your permission sir, I—"

"Go," John waved him off, "and you better get medical treatment."

Shepard smiled, and turned and limped his way down towards camp.

Julia sighed and watched him go.

"I don't know what you see in that Graecus," Terminus grumbled.

"Of course you don't, you damn grumpy chunk of marble," she said. She turned to us. "I'll see you two later. Kay is expecting me and someone has to help Terminus correct uniform violations."

With that she ran down the hill towards New Rome, and with an indignant cry, Terminus disappeared after her.

John sighed and ran a hand through his hair. I watched him expectantly.

"What he asked?"

"It was my idea? Really?"

John snorted derisively. "If anyone asks, you just had Terminus create a new magic border to keep the fox out. Though considering it had to get in somehow the first time not sure how long it will hold. Just take the credit. You need it."

At my confused look he went on.

"You said you wanted to be a Roman?"

"I am a Roman."

"Well in that case you'll have no problem getting in. After you explain why you never went to the wolf house. And after you've been cleared by the Augur. Oh, and then if you make it through the probatio stage." John's grin was a little too mean.

"I will do it. All of it. Whatever it takes," I told him.

"You're a funny kid, Ted. In any case, you're eating like a Roman tonight. Come on, let's go get dinner. And explain to Praetor Kay how a flipping fox of death made it into camp."

* * *

**Yay! Chapter 3!**

**Yeah, so, I heard the story about the fox a little while ago and thought it was kind of cool. That's pretty much the only reason its here. This chapter was all Ted's POV, and I think I did okay. Let me know what you think. I thinks it's easier to read if you don't have to worry about who'd head you're in.**

**Next chapter we'll be seeing things through Aysha's eyes.**

**Reviews welcome, of course.**

**~Lily**


	4. Fox Problems

AYSHA POV

My nerves kicked in as we descended on the camp. I don't know why I always got nervous, but something about descending into the world of these strangers always made me a little uneasy, even if they were our allies.

"You two ready?" I asked our guests.

The Spartans looked about ten times more tense than I felt, and Chrys was twisting the fabric of his sweatshirt between his hands, even as he nodded and assured me they were fine.

The ship landed with surprising softness, and two of our crew grabbed the rope ladder and threw it over the side.

"Hurry up John," I called. He was back talking to the Ted kid.

I clambered over the side of the boat, and down to sweet solid earth. I'd never been fond of flying, ship or otherwise.

Chrys and Andre were the next down, followed by our crew, a mix of Greeks and Romans who spent so much time shipping people between camps they'd forgotten they were from separate camps. In fact, I was pretty sure that Shepard guy lived on that ship.

John was the last down, but if he cared that he was making his praetors wait on him he didn't show it.

The Romans had gathered as per usual to greet us. It was a mix of various legionaries and the senators, and at their center, Kay and Melissa, the current Praetors of the camp.

Kay was a tall, broad shouldered, African American guy, who made togas look masculine. He gave us an easy going grin and wave.

"Sup you two?"

Melissa was far more formal, and stunningly beautiful. She was a daughter of Aphrodite, but beyond that I didn't know anything. She held out her hand to me and smiled stiffly.

"Miss Thompson," she said.

"Praetor, May I introduce Andreus and Chrysanthos, of Sparta?" I stepped aside.

She and Kay shook Chrys and Andreus' hands.

"Of Sparta?" Melissa asked.

"Yes, well we need to speak with you about that," I said.

Realizing my meaning, Melissa waved her hands, and after the crowd dispersed.

"Walk with us. And talk," Melissa said.

And she started down the path towards New Rome.

I followed after her, and Kay and John fell into step behind us. Chrys and Andre were still uneasy, but gave in and followed.

"We were on our way here," I said, "When I received a message from Athena."

"Minerva spoke to you?" Melissa asked.

"In a dream, yes. She told me she was sending help."

"For what?" Melissa's eyes had narrowed, and I knew I was treading on thin ice. No one liked to think the monsters were behaving strangely. Even Chiron was covering it up, refusing to hold a meeting about the matter. I imagined the news would only inspire panic, and maybe I didn't have hard evidence, but I knew it was true. Even without a prophecy.

"She said that a great danger was approaching, that it had to do with the monsters, and that she was sending help."

"And what does that have to do with…?" she gestured toward the Spartans. Andre looked like he would say something, but Chrys elbowed him before he could do something stupid.

"My mother told me to follow my compass. So we took a detour."

"At a time like this? You realize what your camp would accuse us of if you died?" Melissa said.

"Loosen up Mel, she was only doing what her mom asked. We would have done the same." Kay broke into the conversation.

Mel gave an exasperated sigh. "I take it your compass led you to them?"

"Yes."

"And they're from Sparta?"

"Well, technically yes. But apparently New Greece isn't as half-blood friendly as New Rome."

"Perfect. We don't have to worry about an attack, do we?" she directed this question at Chrys.

"No, of course not—"

"Thank gods for small miracles," Melissa said.

"—but Andreus and I, we need to get home."

"Who goes there?"

Everyone jumped. We'd been so busy talking I hadn't realized how close to the city we'd gotten. Terminus the godly bust materialized to halt our entrance.

"Hey Terminus," John called.

"That hair color is not permitted. I expect you to wash it out before you return to your usual duties," Terminus said.

John grumbled about stupid talking statues.

"And who are these?" Terminus asked, looking at Chrys and Andre like they were something terribly unfortunate he'd found on the bottom of his pedestal.

Melissa shared Terminus' attitude towards Andre and Chrys as she looked them over. "Spartans. Apparently."

"Spartans? Why I never—"

"Not now Terminus," Kay said.

Terminus huffed, "Where is Julia? Julia!"

Julia appeared from behind Terminus, looking bored. "What?"

"Take their weapons."

Julia grumbled and pulled out a tray for us to place our weapons on. Chrys looked unhappy, but relinquished his dagger. Julia turned to John.

John hesitated.

"Don't be a problem," she said.

"I'm not a problem."

I sighed. He did this every time. John really didn't like people telling him what to do, especially Terminus, and he especially didn't like being disarmed on his way into the city. Normally he weaseled out of meetings involving passing the Pomerian Line. Sometimes I wondered if he'd ever even been inside the city.

He looked at me now, in that little kid begging for candy way of his. I sighed.

"Do you mind?" I asked Melissa.

Melissa rolled her eyes, equally used to John's behavior. "I suppose not."

"Awesome," John grinned, "I'll be climbing trees with Shepard if anyone needs me."

He turned and sprinted away.

"I wanna climb trees with Shepard," and Julia ran after him, dropping the tray, and making Terminus go off on a tangent about irresponsibility.

"I swear she has ADD." Melisa deadpanned.

"That's one name for it," Kay grinned a knowing grin, and waggled his eyebrows.

I rolled my eyes, and we proceeded into New Rome.

* * *

"So let me get this straight," Kay said, "the ancient Spartans are alive and well, they hate demigods, and your mom sent them straight to you to help with the monster problem?"

"Pretty much."

He sat back with a grin. "Awesome."

"This isn't awesome, it's inconvenient," Chrys said, "We need to get back home."

We were sitting diplomatic headquarters. They were constructed a few years ago to 'facilitate peaceful inter camp relations'. Annabeth Chase herself had created the floor plan. We were in the main room now, a circular chamber with high windows and a series of columns encircling the round negotiation table. Melissa sat with Kay next to her. I sat across from them, and the Spartans sat next to me.

"Well, where is your home?" Melissa asked.

Chrys and Andre exchanged a worried look.

"We don't know," Chrys said.

"You don't know?" Melissa said disbelievingly.

"We've never been in the mortal world before," Andre said, "Nobody's had reason to leave for centuries. We spend more time trying _not_ to be found."

"Great, so we need to get you back to a place we're not supposed to find."

"It should be disguised as a Lacedaemon Academy, last I heard," Chrys said.

"Right, well, we'll get on that as soon as we deal with the monster problem," Melissa hissed, "And you, Ms. Thompson, will be responsible for it. You dragged them here, you take them back. Now if we're quite finished, I have a camp to run." She looked around at us, and when we said nothing, she stood, and stormed out of the room. We all watched her go.

"Sorry about her," Kay said, "She just lost her little brother. She's still taking it hard."

I nodded in understanding. I'd seen people come and go in the worst ways since I made it to Camp Half-Blood. I'd never lost anyone personally, though there weren't many people I could lose. Still, it must have been hard for Melissa.

Kay turned to the Spartans, "You two, why don't you spend the night. Tomorrow I'll talk to the senate and the Augur, see if we can get you out of here."

"What about what my mother said, about them helping us?" I said.

Then Kay turned to me, and he did that thing people always did. Now don't get me wrong, I liked Kay, he was a great guy, but he gave me that same condescending look every teacher since second grade had given me, the one that said, you're smart, and we know that, but don't think for a second you have any power.

"I think maybe now's not the time. Things are tough right now Aysha, and while your heart's in the right place, we can't go looking for trouble," he said.

"I'm not looking for it, but you know as well as I do something is wrong," I said.

Kay's eyes clouded over, and I knew he knew, but he shook his head and wouldn't speak any more on the matter. It was just like Chiron, and Melissa. They all knew there was more to this monster thing than a tragic burst of activity. I just wanted to shake them all awake, tell them to send me on a quest. It was my destiny. I could feel it.

"Dinner is going to be on soon, why don't we start heading that way?"

I grumbled about it, but agreed.

* * *

The mess was set up as usual, with the ridiculous Roman couches for reclining and food flying every which way. I took my place at the Diplomats' Table with Kay and the Spartans. Melissa was already there. Technically our table was officially reserved for us, but very few people seemed hung up on those rules. In the past our crew and various campers had been known to gather around our table, and as long as Melissa didn't drive them away with her deadly glare.

Today wasn't like that. People were giving our table, and more specifically Melissa a wide berth, and I could only hope that John was on his way, because I did not want to set her off today.

Just as Kay was digging into a double burger, John jogged into the Mess Hall, hair still blue despite Terminus' warnings, and looking like he'd been doing more than climbing trees. Ted the mortal was right behind him, gladius still in hand.

"Kay!" John called.

"What's up?" Kay asked.

John came to a stop by our table. By now every eye in the hall was glued to him. Despite his dress, John normally didn't make such public scenes, and the fact Ted dressed like a color blind sword wielding hobo probably didn't help.

"We have a problem," John said.

"Aw, now? I haven't even gotten to eat."

"Kay," Melissa warned.

"Right, well," Kay gestured for John to continue.

I could tell by the look on his face John wasn't exactly thrilled at the way his praetors were brushing him off so lightly, but honestly what could he expect with the way he was always acting?

Still, John looked incredibly worried, and his electric blue eyes darted to me.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"You know how you said monsters were acting up?"

I perked up. If he had information, or proof that I was right, this could be my chance for a quest that didn't involve trying to organize Grecco-Roman bonding activities with John.

"A giant killer fox just attacked us. Which was kind of weird cause, you know, safe haven for demigods." Ted said, and if it weren't for the fact that I knew he was new to this all and probably in shock and/or horrified, I would have said he was joking.

"A what?" Kay asked.

"We took care of it," Ted added, apparently thinking that was what Kay was worried about.

"You took care of the giant killer fox?"

"Well, Terminus trapped it behind a magic border, but considering it got in in the first place, we're not sure how long that's going to last so we may want to do something." Ted trailed off when he noticed Kay staring. "What?"

"Who the hell are you?"

"That isn't important. What's important is, what are we gonna do about this fox?" John said.

Kay and Melissa looked at each other. Melissa gestured for him to take the lead. Kay sighed and stood up.

"Legionaries assemble! This is an emergency. Sorry, foods gonna have to wait." Kay shouted, burger still in one hand.

The mess hall burst into action. Half-bloods jumped to their feet and grabbed their food, followed by their weapons, before filing out. They moved far more quickly and orderly than we did back in Camp Half-Blood, and in less than thirty seconds most were armed and ready to go, while those who weren't soldiers were handing out weapons and gear outside the mess hall.

"You two want to stay here?" Kay asked the Spartans.

Chrys and Andre looked at each other with matching grins.

"A Spartan, miss a fight? You obviously know nothing." Andre said, with a crooked grin.

Kay turned to me, "I _like_ these guys."

Kay threw off his toga and ran out to meet the Romans, who were falling into formation. Melissa was right behind him, grabbing a sword from a passing soldier and shouting orders.

"War games start early tonight guys," she shouted.

The Spartans seemed quite at home, and were quick to jump into the fray themselves, leaving Ted, John, and I behind.

John looked at me, "I should go, you know, fall in."

"Go," I said, pointing towards the masses.

John ran off.

"What about me?" Ted asked. He was wide eyed and completely sincere, and I knew he wanted to help, but…

"Maybe you should, um, stay and hold down the fort?"

"So don't do anything?" he said.

"Sorry,"

"It's fine," he sighed.

I really did feel kind of bad. Ted obviously wanted to help, but I just didn't think the Roman's would be too happy with a mortal in their midst. Besides, it was safer.

"Hey you!"

We whirled around. Julia was jogging towards us in full armor, green eyes glinting under her helmet.

"Me?" Ted asked.

Julia gave him a 'no duh' look. "Yeah, you, what are you doing? You dealt with that dog thing earlier, right?"

"Fox," Ted said.

"Yeah, whatever, well, get to the front then. Melissa will want to talk with you."

Ted sent me a wide eyed, terrified look, and I tried to stifle laughed. He reminded me so much of the new campers who came in, all starry eyed and amazed by the concept of gods and monsters and their very own superpowers. And maybe he was mortal, but he was certainly getting the hang of this demigod thing quickly. I gave him what I hoped was an encouraging smile.

"Better get going then, Roman," I said. I knew Melissa would look after him.

He grinned, and let himself be dragged away by Julia. When they were gone I pulled out my compass. The thin silver needle quivered, and spun for a few seconds, before resting in the direction of the distant hills.

* * *

**This is pretty short, mostly cause I'm still getting a feel for the characters and POVs, and also because this is mostly a transition chapter. I find I'm becoming rather fond of first person. And of John.**

**Anywhoo, reviews welcome. Tell me what you think.**

**~Lily**


	5. Voices in Your Head

CHRYS POV

Maybe I wasn't the typical Spartan. I was definitely on the short side. But even I couldn't resist it when the Romans started gearing up. From the grin on Andreus' face, he was feeling the same. There was something about the air when you were just about to go into battle, something that made your fingertips tingle.

I had gotten my dagger back from Terminus, thankfully. I held it in my hands now, feeling the familiar curve of the hilt in my palm. Just like any other battle.

Andreus and I fell into the mass of soldiers. It was obvious there was some order to it, but I wasn't too familiar with the structure of the Roman military. Instead I found a familiar head of blue hair and made for it, Andreus right behind me.

"Hey," John said. He seemed a surprised to see us. "Jumping in for the fun?"

"It's been too long since our last battle," Andreus told him.

I grinned a little. Andre was entertaining, to say the least.

"Well this should be a good one," John said, "According to Ted, this giant fox we're after can't be caught."

"Then it shall be a challenge," Andre said.

I smiled at them, but also started thinking. Uncatchable foxes sounded like trouble. The godly kind. I'd been hoping to avoid getting involved. Maybe this fight wasn't such a good idea. I was about to say so when Melissa took her place before the formation, Kay and Ted by her side.

"All right, listen up," she called, "I'm sending the first and fifth cohorts up that hill. Flush out the gardens, then make a sweep of the surrounding area. Find that fox, but do not engage before alerting us. This thing is uncatchable, so keep that in mind when planning your attacks."

"If it's uncatchable, then what exactly can you expect us to do about it? If we can't catch it, we can't kill it," one of the more important looking soldiers called.

Melissa glared. She seemed to do that a lot. "It has the ability to get past our borders. It cannot be allowed to live. We're working on a plan now. Just remember to do your part.

"Now as I was saying, first and fifth, sweep for the fox, I want a fourth and second to get a fortress up in the next hour. I want the place armed to the teeth. If we can't catch it, we need to be able to defend the city.

"Finally, third…keep the perimeter."

John groaned.

"I take it that's us?" Andre said, sounding disappointed.

"Yeah, third pretty much always gets scrapped with this stuff," John said, "I should've known."

Everyone moved, making their way towards their posts, but John stayed where he was.

"We should do something," I said.

"Well, unless you have a magic hunting dog we're pretty useless."

"A magic hunting dog?" Andre asked.

"It's," John began, "well, never mind. Ted mentioned it."

"A magic weapon would be nice though." I said.

I was beginning to get an idea, but it was in the early unstable stages of vague notions of ideas that I couldn't quite piece together so I kept quiet.

Andre was looking at me. "You have an idea."

He said it like it was fact. Sometimes I forgot how well he knew me.

I shook my head, "Nothing good yet. Shall we go keep the perimeter?"

John hefted his sword up and grinned, "Sounds awesome."

We took off in the direction of the Pomerian Line.

* * *

Sitting there guarding New Rome was about as boring as John had predicted. I fiddled with the rawhide string around my neck as we stood guard for the first thirty minutes, alternating places and keeping on high alert. When the sound of fighting broke out in the distance, my first instinct was to run forward, but John held me back.

"Don't bother. They'll just get pissed if you abandon your post. You're better off here," John said, though he sounded about as excited at the prospect as I felt.

"Useless," Andreus grumbled. "Is this how the third cohort is always treated?"

John shrugged, "Kind of. It's not that no one likes us or anything, but the fifth and first are the most important, so they get precedence, followed by second, leaving the third and fourth to just kind of flounder."

"I see." Andreus said. "It seems a poor way to arrange one's army."

"It may suck but somebody's got to do it," John grumbled, stabbing his sword into the dirt and leaning against it like it was some post.

"Spoken like a good soldier." Andreus beamed at him. John couldn't tell, but he'd just won himself a permanent, powerful ally.

John laughed, "Yeah. You ever get put on watch?"

"Only when I angered father."

"Tell me about it," John said, glaring at the sky.

Of course. John was a son of Jupiter. That would have been Zeus then. It was fascinating, to know he was the son of a god. He certainly had Zeus's eyes. But this John was still so young.

John said something I missed, and Andreus laughed. It was strange to see my friend so relaxed. Maybe this brief vacation from Sparta wasn't such a bad thing after all, knowing what waited for us when we returned.

The sound of fighting drew closer, and towards the hills where the first and fifth cohorts had disappeared I could see the approaching forms of some dozen Romans, a giant red monster in their midst.

"That's not good," John said, hefting his sword.

_You can't beat it._

Not now, Athena, damn it.

_Go to the temple. You can't beat it. Not alone._

"You know, I think it's coming right for us," John said.

"Let it come. I will enjoy skinning this beast," Andreus said.

"Dude."

The group came closer. They were maybe fifty yards away now, and loud enough to wake Hades. I swore I heard Terminus' tell-tale shrieking about rule breakers.

"We cannot stand here," Andreus said.

"A little longer. Can't have them thinking we abandoned ship," John said.

A few more moments passed. Now I could make out Melissa's distinct figure dancing in and out of the battle with twin blades and a vicious methodology.

"Now?" Andreus asked.

John leaned forward a little, trying to see the battle more clearly. "Hm…yeah. Now works."

John yanked his sword from the ground and charged towards the battle, Andreus already ahead of him.

_Come to the temple._

I shook my head of Athena's warnings and followed.

* * *

"This is not going well," Andreus said, ducking out of the swiping claws of the giant fox.

I was right behind him, and forced to jump backwards as it lunged again.

This fox wasn't like anything I'd faced before, and I'd charged down armies of cyclopses with nothing but a dagger and a charm around my neck. It was fierce, vicious, and nothing about it suggested that there was anything but a vicious beast inside. Even the Minotaur had had a spark of intelligence in its dark, instinct driven mind.

On top of it, the fox couldn't be hit.

A spear arched overhead, thrown by one of the half dozen Romans still left standing, and missed the fox by a hair. We'd started with more, I was sure, but by the time we'd joined the fight the numbers had dwindled, with injuries and exhaustion taking their toll. Despite our attempts to drive it back, the beast was pressing ever forward towards the city.

John appeared by my side. He was breathing hard, sword in hand, eyes glowing with the energy of battle.

"We aren't going to win this," he said, watching as another of his allies charged the beast, only to be knocked aside like a doll.

"An idea would be nice right about now," Andreus said.

Before I could answer either of them the fox whipped around and I jumped back. Sharp jaws clamped down on the air I had occupied a second before and I swore, holding up my dagger. I loved the thing but a sword was beginning to sound like a good idea.

_You can't win this, Chrysanthos._

God, why did I have to have the crazy goddess in my head _now?_

_ Go to the temple._

The fox's eyes narrowed on me suddenly. In that moment the world stopped. Its eyes were the color of demons, a sickly yellow that glowed with unbridled anger. As it looked at me, I could have sworn it recognized me.

It charged. All around me was a sea of half dead soldiers. I had nowhere to go.

I jumped.

My mind went somewhere else. It was almost like when I had been falling. I was there, but it was almost as if I wasn't in my body. I could see myself as I jumped, high over the fox's head. It looked up at me, and a moment later I fell back to earth, dagger in hand, heading straight for it.

And when I landed it vanished. Literally, it was as if the fox had disappeared and reappeared three feet from where it had been because there was no way that I had had been wrong. I should have hit that fox.

My mind flashed back to what John had said. A fox that can't be caught. Or stabbed, or wounded, or cornered, it would seem.

It lunged again, and I threw myself out of the way, landing on the ground, and digging my hands into the dirt to keep from skidding.

"Chrysanthos!" Andreus was a little ways away, fighting side by side with a random Roman.

I shook my head to keep him from running to my aid.

I winced as I stood. The fox was temporarily distracted by three Romans who'd thrown themselves between the beast and I, but even over their spears the fox continued to stare at me. Like it knew me.

Their distraction wouldn't last long.

_Come to the temple._

I hoped one day Athena was dismembered in the most painful way possible, and scattered across the world so she could never reassemble.

With that cheerful thought I turned on my heel and ran away from the battle.

* * *

I ran, and ran. I already knew where I was going. There was a hill not far off with a series of temples set atop it. The largest one was where Athena was waiting for me. The largest temple, an open air place, was the one I ran towards.

"Where are you going?" I heard.

I spared a glance behind me and suppressed a groan. Andreus and John had followed me. Of course.

"Go back!" I shouted. I didn't want Andreus to see what I was about to do, but of course, telling Andreus to do anything was like telling children not to eat the candy.

I turned back around, and focused on the last few meters to the temple.

The temple was huge, with a sixty foot tall gold ceiling, and a marble floor covered with mosaics and Latin inscriptions. On any other day I would've found it fascinating, or even stopped to try and translate. Not today.

At the center stood an altar, and a huge statue of Zeus, or more accurately Jupiter, holding the master bolt. And there were two people standing before it. One was Aysha, holding her compass, the other was a sandy haired boy with a toga thrown over his t-shirt, and a candle in one hand.

They both turned to stare at me.

"Chrys?" Aysha asked.

I ignored them. I headed straight for the altar, shoving the boy aside, and when I got there, I knelt and closed my eyes.

I heard the other two come in after me.

"What's he doing?" John asked.

"I don't know, he just came in and started praying," Aysha answered.

"He's not praying." That was Andreus. Only he would have known that.

I blocked them all out. I focused all my attention on the voice inside my head. On the presence. Slowly, certainly, the world went black.

_You'll always come back in the end._

When I opened my eyes next I wasn't myself.

* * *

**I'm having waaaay to much fun with this. Kind of free writing it though, so be prepared for it to just wither and die eventually.**

**In the mean time thanks for everyone who has favorited, followed, etc. And my one lone reviewer Sam Takusi :) Glad you're enjoying it.**

**I'm finding the one POV per chapter easier to follow, but it's also making it harder for me to lengthen my chapters. On the other hand short chapters mean quick updates. **

**Well, that's about the end of my meaningless babble. Reviews are loved.**

**~Lily**


	6. Mom's Message

TED POV

* * *

When Chrys burst onto the scene all powerful and kick ass I think the entire Roman legion wet itself.

But let me back up for a minute...

* * *

As Melissa finished giving the orders, Julia dragged me forward.

Now Melissa, she took one look at me, and I knew she was the kind of girl who would take me, break my heart, and stomp on it in leather boots. That didn't stop me from thinking she was the most beautiful girl I'd ever met or ever would meet.

"Melissa, this is Ted, he's the one who helped us with the fox," Julia said, shoving me before the goddess that was Melissa.

"You?" Melissa said disbelievingly, "Fine. What can you tell us?"

"Uh, well," I could feel my face heating up, but I fought it down, "You can't catch it."

"Is that all?" Melissa sounded unimpressed as she adjusted the straps on her armor and looked toward the first and fifth cohorts, who were already beginning the trek towards the gardens.

"I mean," I said, clearing my throat, "It's an uncatchable fox. No matter how long you go after this thing, you'll never even touch it. That's why we trapped it behind Terminus's border, and that's why we need a plan."

Melissa nodded, eyes still focused on the distant hill. "Okay then, gear up Roman. You'll be with me. Julia? I want you to go into the city and get the citizens prepared. This could be bad."

"Mel—"

"Go."

Julia grumbled, but turned and jogged towards New Rome.

I turned back to Melissa to find her already halfway toward the gardens.

"Well come on," she called.

I ran after her.

* * *

The fight didn't last long, even with the man power of two cohorts. The fox couldn't be hit and one by one our numbers dwindled, until it was able to break away from us and charge down the hill towards New Rome.

Melissa reached it first, charging full force with her sword and another she'd picked up from a fallen ally. Her soldiers emulated her courage, and roared before charging in behind her. Frankly, I was terrified, but something in me felt right at home, and as the Roman's roared, I roared right along with them, and charged at the fox.

The fighting came naturally, and I was too busy trying not to die to psychoanalyze it. More than once I found Melissa by my side, fighting off claws and teeth as the fox moved way too fast for a creature of its size. I even saw Chrys and Andre somewhere in the chaos.

As the fox knocked away another of the legionaries, and our numbers fell from a decent fourteen to roughly three, Melissa backed away, breathing hard.

"We aren't going to win this," she said.

I wasn't sure if I was meant to hear it, but I did.

"We're Romans. This is nothing," I said, giving her my best reassuring smile.

She looked at me like I had two heads. "Are you insane?"

I shrugged, "Well, we're not going to give up, are we?"

Melissa raised her swords with a malicious look in her eye and that was answer enough.

The fox took its time coming towards us. I think it knew we were dead, and figured, why hurry the inevitable? In any case, we back away as the fox approached, trying to keep our distance, waiting for it to make its move. Melissa was uncannily calm, and despite the circumstances, I found I was able to keep my face morphed into a mask of emotionlessness. Inside I was about ready to explode, but at least if we died Melissa wouldn't see what a complete coward I was.

We backed away from the fox, weapons raised, and then, for the second time that day, maybe third if the lizard ladies counted, I was saved.

And that's where Chrys came in.

"Now, now, Teumessian, what do you think you're doing?"

The fox turned around, and to see Chrys, flanked by Andre, Aysha, and a guy I didn't recognized.

Everyone but Chrys looked uneasy, which was understandable, because Chrys looked, well… not like Chrys. His eyes had turned a stormy gray that moved restlessly from place to place, analyzing everything like he could see the gears of the world turning. His very presence now radiated an aura of power and I knew, the way I'd known when I saw it that New Rome was where I belonged, the same way I'd known how to wield the gladius, that I was in the presence of a god.

So did everyone else it seemed. One by one the Romans dropped their weapons to gape at the spectacle before him. Even Melissa, who'd been calm moments before, suddenly seemed uneasy.

"That's a Greek god," she muttered, looking both angered and terrified as she lowered her swords.

"Athena," the fox said.

I did a double take. Nope, I wasn't imagining. The fox was talking, though its mouth didn't move, in a gravelly, high pitched voice that resembled nails on a chalkboard.

"I don't believe we've been formally introduced," Chrys, or rather, Athena in Chrys's body said.

The fox growled.

"Oh, there's no need for that," Athena said.

"The gods cannot interfere with the affairs of the mortals," the fox said.

"Not directly. But I'm just… borrowing a body, as you can see."

"You'll burn him up. In minutes his flesh will disintegrate. No mortal can stand the power of a god for long," but the fox didn't sound so sure of itself, and it was already backing away.

"Not this one," Athena said, smiling.

The fox growled and lunged towards them, but Athena raised a hand, and it slammed into an invisible barrier, bouncing back with a whimper. I gaped. Gods were not at all what I expected, but that was still incredibly cool.

"You're wasting my time Fox," Athena said, and walked towards the fallen animal.

The fox scrambled to its feet, seeming to shrink in the presence of a god. It whimpered again.

"What have you been sent here for?" Athena asked. She stopped close enough to the fox that she could have reached out to touch it. Or disintegrate it, as was more likely the case.

"The mother," the fox said, trying to scramble away, but freezing in place as it met Athena's gaze, "she declares war."

"Does she now?"

"Yes. All the children shall perish. The gods shall watch their young suffer the way she has for centuries."

Athena closed her eyes. For a second I thought she'd gone to sleep.

Athena opened her eyes. "Artemis knows. She'll be sending her dogs."

The fox growled, snapping out of the spell Athena had put it under, and lunged at the goddess. Athena stepped back in time to watch as something destroyed the earth she'd stood on a moment before.

"Woo!"

I whirled around. The Greek warship sailed through the air, John at the front, clutching the bright pink figure head, and waving at us wildly. It came terrifyingly close to the ground, making the few Romans left standing there scramble out of the way.

Another canon launched.

The fox jumped, barely avoiding getting blown into smithereens.

"Nice shot, dumbasses," John called to the crew scrambling around the deck. From here I could make out the forms of the crew struggling with what looked like newly installed canons and crossbows.

The fox growled again, but another canon shook the ground and it scurried back.

"You heard the goddess," John called, "Artemis is on the way, and I get the feeling she may have some magic hunting dogs under her belt. You may want to start running."

The ship came to a hovering stop right over my head. If I had reached up I could have touched the hull, thrumming with the energy it took to keep the ship off the ground.

The fox let out a low growl, and John raised his arms, signalling the crew to ready for another barrage I just see the outline some canons sticking out of the windows of the lower hull, all pointed at the fox.

After standing there a moment, the fox lowered his head. "It matters not."

It turned and sprinted away, followed by the launch of a half dozen projectiles from the boat.

Athena looked up at the ship, and I swore she smiled.

"Hephaestus's children," she said fondly, "they always were creative with their toys."

Beside me, Melissa dropped to her knees.

"Lady Miner- Athena," she said.

I giggled at the idea of calling Chrys a lady, but Melissa yanked me down to kneel before the goddess. The others did the same.

"Rise. My time is limited."

We stood.

Athena turned to Aysha, who pulled herself away from staring at the warship hovering over our heads to face her mother. "You were right to worry. Echidna, mother of monsters, has declared war on the half-bloods. The fox is just one of her many children."

"How do we stop her?" Aysha asked. She was a rather straight to the point girl. I knew if I ever met a god my first question would be more along the lines of how do you throw lightning bolts, or if they really slept around as much as myth said.

"That is your quest," Athena said, "And you should be warned, the only one to ever kill Echidna was Argus, and he will not speak of it. It takes more than a demigod to kill the mother of monsters."

"If we kill her the monsters stop acting up?" it was Reyna who spoke now, her dark eyes clouded over with seriousness, the kind that spoke more of sadness than anger.

Athena hesitated. "We can only hope."

"And what about us?" Andre spoke up, angrier than I'd ever seen him. His sweatshirt was torn from the battle, and he clutched a roman sword, but other than that he seemed surprisingly okay, considering his friend was currently hosting an all-powerful, potentially deadly goddess. "You send us here, you use my friend, and you want us to help you?"

Athena cast him a baleful looked. "Oh, you don't have a choice. You've become far too attached to this puppet, Andreus. He isn't human. You're affections are misplaced. No matter how real he seems, he is only a host, with a purpose. And in any case, I think you'll find the Echidna did not just suddenly decide to wage a war on her own. She has allies. Ones you'll recognize. You'd do good to remember that. And, if you truly do wish to return home, you will not do so without my help."

Andre looked ready to slaughter the goddess, but Athena paid no mind. She turned back to Aysha.

"This," she gestured to her, well, Chrys's body, "is my gift to you. If all other courses fail, see that he survives to face the Echidna."

Athena closed her eyes. A moment later the atmosphere lifted, and she was gone. Chrys crashed to the ground.

We all continued to stare for a long moment, partly horrified, partly amazed at what just happened. I still wasn't sure I hadn't gone insane.

Melissa spoke first, lifting her swords up and sending Aysha the type of look that killed monsters mid attack.

"Congratulations, Miss Thompson. It appears your wish has been granted. You are going on a quest."

Aysha stared down at Chrys and the surrounding battlefield, horrified.

* * *

**Yay! Multiple updates. So I got sick, which is why I've had time to write so much. I'm having issues with first-person again, mainly juggling three of them and keeping the timelines in sync, which means that I'm going to be posting again soon to test out how well the whole story from different views works. Or fails.**

**Reviews welcome, etc.**

**~Lily**


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